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New sleep guidelines for infants, children and teens 2016

Sleeping Toddler

I have had the pleasure of attending the Associated Professional Sleep Societies SLEEP meeting where new guidelines for recommended sleep duration were released.

Developed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a very intensive study was conducted by 13 of the top leading professionals in the field and based upon their findings, here are the new sleep guidelines for infants, children and teens.

  • Infants 4 to 12 months – 12 to 16 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
  • Children 1 to 2 years – 11 to 14 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
  • Children 3 to 5 years – 10 to 13 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
  • Children 6 to 12 years – 9 to 12 hours of sleep every 24 hours.
  • Teens 13 to 18 years – 8 to 10 hours of sleep every 24 hours.

Recommendations for infants younger than 4 months are not included in the new guidelines because there is such a wide range of what’s normal when it comes to newborn sleep therefore there is not adequate research to back up the guidelines for this age group according to the findings in this study.

When children get enough sleep on a regular basis, they’re likely to see benefits including better behavior, increased attention span, learning, memory, emotional regulation, and overall quality of life according to the findings of this research.

Is your child getting enough sleep?

Photo credit: demandaj via Home Decorators / CC BY-NC-ND

About the author

Shannon Glenn

Shannon Glenn is the owner and founder of Sleep Well Children Consulting and a Certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist. She is dedicated to helping parents assist their children and babies in developing healthy sleep habits. With a B.A. in Psychology, Shannon has worked extensively with children and their families for over 15 years in a variety of settings.  She has been offering sleep solutions for over six years.  

Why didn’t we try this sooner?! As we speak he is sound asleep in his crib – and has been since 7:15 pm.

Karianne Wanggaard

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Working with Shannon, I went from 2-3 wake ups every night to 1 or 0. She aligned the plan with my preferred sleep cycle. She was always coaching, never judging. Shannon was great, I have referred MANY people to her! That's the best testament to her work that I can give.

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